The New England Patriots yesterday blasted Gov. Weld's proposal for a team-financed football stadium in South Boston, saying in a terse statement that the governor's idea included "nothing substantive" and the team still hopes to see "a real proposal" sometime soon.

Weld's roughly sketched idea would give Patriots owner Robert Kraft a site on waterfront land now owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority, along with publicly funded mass-transit improvements.

In an interview with the Globe, Weld said a stadium was necessary to keep the Patriots in Massachusetts. He noted the rising public costs to lure or retain a professional football franchise, as shown earlier this month when the Cleveland Browns accepted more than $250 million in publicly financed incentives to move to Baltimore.

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